


once you go without it

by alittleagreste



Series: meet me in the hallway [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: CEO of writing only from Adrien's perspective, F/M, Identity Reveal, Mutual Pining, adrien can't deal, adrien realizes he has feelings for marinette, adrien really said Big Dummy, adrienette - Freeform, adrimi dating, but thats okay, for about a weekend, great timing kiddo, hehe, lukanette also dating, oblivious marinette, pre-reveal, straight up denying his feelings, then its all downhill from there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:29:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23870872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alittleagreste/pseuds/alittleagreste
Summary: or the one where Adrien realizes his mistake just a little too late. Maybe.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: meet me in the hallway [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1721473
Comments: 4
Kudos: 60





	once you go without it

In retrospect, he should’ve realized it sooner. But as both Plagg and Nino had attested before, he was incredibly oblivious to most things around him.

It was a nice day. Autumn was starting to descend on Paris, but the summer warmth hadn’t quite taken its leave. Juleka had invited the class to a party on the Liberty to end the summer off. (and by party, it was basically just one big hangout session.) Adrien had somehow gotten an okay from his father, and he was even happier when his girlfriend got the okay as well.

So why, if he was so happy to be with his girlfriend, why did he feel so jealous?

It really happened at the worst possible moment, right as Kagami pressed her lips to his, he caught sight of Luka doing the same to Marinette. The twinge of jealousy was familiar to him, he’d felt it countless times with Ladybug, but for Marinette? That didn’t make much sense, now did it? He’d been dating Kagami for nearly four months now, kissed her many times, so why did it feel so wrong right now?

“Adrien?” Kagami had pulled away, for it was clear his head was somewhere else than in this moment. When she caught sight of where Adrien’s eyes had locked, on Luka and Marinette across the boat from them, she let out a dejected sigh and sat back on the seat she had been in. 

“So, we’re still doing this?” Adrien hadn’t really registered what she said, the gears in his head focused only on trying to figure out just what was going on with him right now. He only realized something was wrong when Kagami had stood to leave. 

“Kagami? What’s wrong?” She paused for a moment and turned to him. 

“You’ve tried to mask your feelings to be with me, but I can tell that it’s not working. Forgive me, but if you still haven’t changed your target, I’ll step out of your way. I won’t stand in the way of your happiness.” With that, she took her leave. 

Adrien was stunned into silence for a moment, before his brain kicked back on and he reacted. 

“What are you talking about? You’re wrong. I like  _ you  _ Ka-”

“Save it Adrien! I know how you feel about me, and it’s not the way that you think you do. So this is over. It ends here.” Kagami walked off the boat then, headed toward where her car probably was. 

“What the hell?” Adrien stood still, watching her retreating form and feeling no need to chase after her, which, surprisingly, he realized was part of what she was talking about. 

He did love Kagami, but if he was being honest, he was still in love with Ladybug. There was no changing that, but he’d thought he’d done a better job of hiding it. 

Apparently not. 

“Dude, what the hell just happened?” Nino’s voice was the metaphorical water being thrown on his head to snap him out of everything. Adrien turned to respond and found everyone just  _ staring  _ at him.

_ Oh no, they all just watched me get dumped.  _

“I think I just got dumped.” Nino frowned at Adrien’s words. 

“Bro, what? Are you okay?” Adrien just shrugged. 

“I guess so. I think I’m gonna head home now, though. See ya Nino.” Adrien ignored Nino’s request for him to stay as he waved to the rest of his friends on the boat. It kind of sucked, having everyone staring at him in pity, knowing he just lost the first girlfriend he’d had. But oddly, they didn’t bother him at all. 

Well, except for Marinette. Her eyes were sad, looking at him as though she just wanted to run to him and give him a hug. And he would love that. But she had Luka, and he had to get home. So he shook his head and turned away, walking off in the general direction of his house. 

It took him 24 hours, 15 minutes, and 34 seconds to muster up enough courage to text Kagami and ask her to explain.

It took him less than 5 minutes to realize that Kagami broke up with him because,  _ “I won’t stand between you and Marinette.” _

“Marinette? That makes no sense. Plagg, a little help here?” Plagg, unbothered, swallowed another wedge of cheese before speaking. 

“You’re telling me you finally realized you’re in love with pigtails?” Adrien choked on his breath. 

“ _ In love _ ? With Marinette? No way. I love Ladybug. You know that.”

“Whatever you say, kid.” Adrien needed to think things over for a bit. So, he spent the rest of his weekend playing the new Ultimate Mecha Strike in his underwear and trying not to think about Kagami, or Ladybug, or Marinette. And it worked.

Well, it worked up until school came on Monday and the first thing he was met with was a forlorn Marinette and a pissed off Alya. 

“Just like that? He dumped you just like that?” Alya shook her head in disbelief. 

“What an ass! I’m sorry, girl. You deserve better.” Marinette drew her lips into a tight smile and finally looked up from her lap, her eyes locking with Adrien’s.

  
  


Again, like he said before, he really should’ve realized it sooner. It had taken approximately 30 seconds, just enough time to take in the adorable outfit she was wearing (a soft pink sweater paired with a black skirt and black wedges) and think about how cute she was, for him to finally figure it out.

_ ‘holy shit. I  _ **_do_ ** _ like Marinette.’ _

He fumbled instantly. 

“Marinette! Today, it’s a day- hey!”  _ ‘Shut up. Shut your mouth. Stop talking.’ _

Marinette’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Hey, Adrien.” She smiled gently at him and his heart skipped a beat. He knew he looked like an idiot. Where was his Chat Noir charm when he needed it? 

Instead of risking more embarrassment, he just locked his face into a smile and made his way to class. He settled into his seat and forged a plan in his head. 

_ Operation: Get Marinette to Fall in Love with Me!  _ He’d need to pull out all the stops, channel his inner Tamaki Suoh, but he was determined. This would be a success.

It started out pretty simply, he’d drop a flirty line here or there, offer his help the second she needed it, simple things. But after a week and a half of subtle flirting, Marinette didn’t seem to have noticed it at all. 

“Alya, if I asked you for advice, would you give it?” He was happy he and Alya had been paired together for their chemistry project, even though it had really screwed him out of making a joke about him and Marinette ‘having chemistry’. But now he could enlist her best friend to help win her over.

“Sure thing, Agreste, what do you need?”

“Well, how do you get a girl to fall in love with you?”

Alya froze for a split second before her hand went back to writing down data. 

“Well, it depends.”

“On?”

“Well, for example, it depends on who it is, because that affects everything. Different girls like different things, you know?” She put her pencil down and picked up a beaker to check a measurement. “So, who is she?”

“Um, its Marinette.” The beaker smashing on the floor echoed through the science lab, causing everyone to look their way. 

“It’s WHO? No way! Oh this is the best news I could’ve gotten today!” She maneuvered around the shattered glass on the floor as she moved closer to Adrien. 

“Alright, Sunshine. I’m gonna help you get her.” Mrs. Mendeleiev interrupted them, thrusting a broom and dust pan towards Alya. She took it with a sheepish grin and began sweeping up the glass.

“But just know, if you break her heart,” she paused to look up at him, her face locked in a look he could only describe as terrifying. “I will not hesitate to kill you.” 

And so,  _ Operation: Get Marinette to Fall in Love with Me 2.0 (This time with backup!)  _ was a-go. 

**Author's Note:**

> title is from Meet Me in the Hallway by Harry Styles
> 
> you'd think that with Falling being the song that inspired this, I'd find a title from that, but none of the lyrics fit as a title so my bad.
> 
> Part two of this should be up pretty soon :)


End file.
